12. Kye

TWELVE

KYE

It wasn't until she was safely in my passenger seat that I felt like I could take my first full breath of the day.

When she told me she was spending the day out with Dean, something had settled in my gut that made me want to puke.

I didn't like it.

There was no way a guy like him wanted to hang out with his ex, the girl he thought was currently dating me, unless he had a plan.

I thought he might hurt her feelings. I didn't think he would actually put her in physical danger.

If she was scared of deep water and panicked too much, she could have drowned.

"You aren't driving at death speeds. Why?" she asked.

"I assumed you've had enough of being an adrenaline junkie today."

"No. I've had enough of being thrown off boats today. Go ahead. I want to know what it's like to go your death speeds."

I knew my eyebrows were furrowing hard, and I avoided looking over at her. "Are you going to explain why?"

"Because I want to do it? I want to see what it's like in the car with you. Go fast. As fast as you can."

"I mean, less than an hour ago, you were telling me how scared you were of me," I said, laughing. She was apparently terrified of me, but now wanted to race? "It's dangerous."

"You do it all the time!"

"Not with you in the car."

"Come on. There's literally miles of no one. Look," she said, pointing to the road.

It really was an empty road and I could probably go for miles without another person. We were close to town, but this route rarely had people on it. It's one of the main reasons the crew and I would go this way often. I slowed, trying to decide. I knew I was reckless, but she wasn't.

But she should know what it feels like if she wanted to.

Before I could think about it more, four cars surrounded us. Circling the car and revving engines.

Daisy grabbed my arm. "What is happening?"

"We're being kidnapped, or maybe just robbed," I said with a laugh, my eyes glued on her hand grabbing my arm. I waited and waited, but nothing but warmth spread over me.

"Kye!"

"It's my friends, relax." I grabbed the radio, shaking her off. "I'm about to go as fast as I can down this road. Daisy would like to see what happens."

"Daisy?" Scout asked.

"What's fast for you, Kye? Like eighty?" Ash said.

"Are you driving?" I asked.

"Yep. Let's gooooooo."

"Shit," I said, already laughing.

"Sorry, she's all wound up tonight," Fox said. "She's going to kick your ass on the road or mine if we stay home, so please give her a real race."

Ash took their car, revving it up on the passenger side of mine.

"Hey, Daisy!" she said over the radio. "Are you coming over tonight?"

"If she's not scared to death of all of us, yes, she is," I said, not even asking her.

I didn't know what the hell was wrong with me, but I didn't even want to risk asking her if she wanted to. I just wanted her to, and I wasn't sure how to take that.

"Can we go, please?" Jax asked. "I am hungry."

I rolled my eyes and put the radio back, honking once to Ash before we both took off.

I pushed the car hard, hitting the shifter until I ran out of gears, hitting a hundred in seconds and still kept pushing. Ash stayed by my side, then hit her nitrous and pulled out ahead of me fast.

I kept up for another minute before slowing.

We made it back down to seventy before I grabbed the radio again. "That was cheating."

"I'm supposed to tell you there were no rules. But I agree with you," Fox said, whispering the last part.

I looked over at Daisy, whose knuckles were white as she gripped the harness. "You okay?"

She didn't say anything, staring out the windshield.

"Daze?" I reached for her hand, my stomach clenching as my fingers ran along hers before pulling away.

I slowed down a little more as everyone else caught up.

"Back to the garage," Ransom said, veering off at our exit, and we all followed.

"Daisy," I said again, and she finally looked over at me.

"You do that all the time?"

"Yeah, but it's hard to get that much open road. When we race at events, we might go faster in shorter times."

"Faster?"

"Yes."

"How are you alive?"

"Harnesses, roll cages, well-built cars, various other safety things. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Shocked, but fine."

"I'm assuming you don't want to come over now?"

"What, no? I mean, I'm nervous about actually meeting your friends, but I wanted to hang out tonight. I'm surprised you wanted me to."

"I figured you would be over it after that."

"Over it? No. Like I said, I'm just shocked. That was…fun."

I almost hit the brakes. "Did you just say you had fun doing that? You liked something so dangerous and illegal?"

"Yeah, that was fun. With you driving, I don't feel unsafe, so it was just…fun."

"Shit, that was not what I was expecting. Can I go more? Not that fast, of course, but get back to the garage?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Go."

I did, weaving around the crew's cars and drifting corners until we were at the garage.

By the time I parked, she looked terrified again. I wasn't surprised, but I thought she would have grown a little used to it by the second round. Maybe it was something that she would never get used to.

Which would make sense, since she may never be in my car to do it again.

I pulled off my harness, and she still hadn't moved. The rest of the crew was already parked and heading around back.

"Daze?" I asked for what felt like the hundredth time. When she didn't respond, I could only huff and lean over, unclipping her harness and trying to pull it off. When she stayed frozen, I leaned in more, pulling it over her.

She turned, her face only an inch from mine now.

I sucked in a breath, not knowing what to do. I could smell her body wash again, feel her breath on my face and the heat rolling off of her. All it was making me want to do was lean in.

I didn't have to, though, because she did.

I froze as her lips pressed against mine. The soft kiss made every part of me burn, the heat moving through my veins and giving me that same high that it had before.

She hesitated for a second but didn't stop. Her tongue moved along my lips, and I parted them more. It wasn't that I didn't know how to kiss, I had some experience, but every intimate interaction was tangled in the blinding hate for people touching me, so I wasn't sure how to go about it when I liked it. I thought it would be that way with her again, but just like each time before, my body was in peaceful bliss.

I almost hated it more than the pain.

How could I suddenly like being touched? And was it just her or was I cured of this suddenly?

I pulled back, my eyes wide as the panic set in. "Do you want me to take you home?"

"What? No? You think I kiss you and that means I want to leave?" she asked, almost laughing.

"I don't really know what it means. A bit ago you said you were scared of me, then you're asking me to speed, then this."

Her hand came up, and I winced, trying to hide it as her fingers settled on my jaw and ran along it.

"Do you want me to leave?" she asked quietly.

I didn't say anything. My mind focused on her fingers moving down my face and then my neck until it finally fell away.

"No. No, I'm fine. Come on," I said through gritted teeth, already kicking the door open and taking a deep breath of cool fall air. The sun was setting now, the chill that came in at night already here, and it cooled my body that was on fire.

I had grown used to a few people over the years, like the crew, but it took time. Even Carly had been here two years and it wasn't until recently that I really settled into touching her here and there. I still avoided everyone whenever I could, but I knew it was inevitable with certain things.

This, though, it didn't feel real. My body somehow calmed and burned anytime Daisy touched me, and I could already feel the nagging in the pit of my stomach that I wanted to try it again.

I wanted her to kiss me again, but there was no way I could ask.

She had got out and walked around to me, the smile on her face making me want to smile back, but I forced myself not to.

"Wow," she said. "That was like a pure shot of adrenaline, but in a good way."

"One of the best highs you can get," I said, wishing my brain didn't want to add kissing her on that list.

"Are your friends going to be dicks to me?"

"If you're asking if they are going to throw you in front of a car or something, no, they are cool. They will be dicks to me, though."

"Why?"

"Because I'm showing up with you."

We were walking around the back of the shop when she stopped dead in her tracks.

"What? Why? Do they know we are just fake dating?"

"Yeah, they already know the main points of what's going on and why. At least, why for me, not for you."

Her chest rose and fell, the panic in her eyes clear.

"Calm down," I said, stepping a little closer. "Nothing bad is going to happen."

"What if they are all just hitting on me all night? What if they grab at me? Are you going to care to stop them? What if they say nasty things to me? And do you really think telling me to calm down works?"

"What the fuck?" I asked. "Who the fuck have you been hanging out with all the time? You think they are going to grab you?"

"I'm nervous! Dean's friends were assholes to me, and I just had to sit there and take it. He thought it was funny and would go along with it. I don't know what to expect. Based on you, your friends will be even more scary than his."

"I can guarantee that none of that will happen. I would give my damn car with that guarantee. Not only would I fight any of my friends that treated you anything like that, none of them would. Unfortunately for them, they seem to all have a thing for strong, demanding, stubborn women. Don't be fooled by any single one of us or our looks. We would lay down and let any one of you run us over before we thought we were in charge or hurt you." I laughed harder. "Some of these guys might let their girls do it for less. I don't know much about Dean, but I promise none of the guys think they could get away with any of that shit, and they don't want to."

"You're serious?"

"About as serious you can be about getting run over," I said. "You can run the world here, Daze, and no one is going to make you feel less than that."

She finally got quiet, but I knew it wouldn't last long.

I went around the fire, introducing her to everyone. I figured she already knew Ransom, Fox, Jax, and Scout from high school, but I still named them off, explaining that Ransom was with Quinn, Fox was dating Ash, Jax was with Carly, and Scout was now dating Chase.

"So, you all work together?"

They looked around at each other, but Quinn spoke up.

"Yes, in a very messy way. We all work at the garage in some capacity, but Ash's dad has a big racing empire that we all do things at, too. Ash, Scout, Fox and hopefully Kye all race with him. Carly is an amazing chef and not only feeds us all, but runs her social media cooking business stuff. Ransom and I run and organize most of the garage stuff now, since everyone else is so busy. Has Kye told you about his racing?"

Daisy looked at me, and then back at Quinn. "A little, but nothing more than wanting to race with Holt. I mean, we met with him, but they didn't talk about the racing part much, just the Kye messing up part."

"Quinn, can we not?" I asked, not needing Daisy to know more about me, and already knowing what Quinn was going to say. I guess I should have thought more about that when I brought her here, though.

"No, we absolutely can."

"We're the embarrassing family that wants to tell everyone how proud of our little Kye we are," Jax said.

"I'm going to kill you."

"Ha. You'll have to get through Carly first."

"Hiding behind your girlfriend again?"

"Always."

I groaned, but Quinn continued.

"We can't help that we're proud of you and want to tell her. He's amazing, Daisy. He's going to be one of the best racers in the country, and that's if he doesn't become a professional stunt driver," Quinn said, beaming at me.

"Is she serious?" Daisy asked, looking at me as her eyebrows jumped up.

"We can only hope," I said.

Quinn shook her head. "Fine, Kye. Since you are only going to talk less and less if we talk about you, I'll ask Daisy questions."

Daisy moved closer, her hand going down on the bench between us, and I realized it was because she wanted to touch me.

And fuck my life that I wanted her to.

I moved my hand the smallest amount closer until our pinkies were nearly touching. I ignored the way my heart rate picked up and tried to focus on the conversation again.

"Tell us about you, Daisy. What are you doing out with Kye tonight?" Carly asked, leaning back against Jax and looking at me with a smile.

"Oh, and what do you think of Kye and all of us now?" Scout asked.

Daisy let out a hard breath and leaned the smallest amount closer to me, her hand sliding across the bench until we were touching.

"Honestly, I just spent the day with my so-called friends and my ex-boyfriend, who threw me off a boat. And really, if you would have asked me a few weeks ago which group was more likely to try to get me killed, I would have said you guys without a doubt, but obviously I was wrong, so there is now zero judgment of you all from me. I literally went death warp speed a bit ago, and that still felt safer than being on a boat with my friends. At this point, I literally know nothing about how to read people, so even if you all sucked, I may not notice, but I don't think you do. And besides that, I was hanging out with Kye because he was the only one I thought I could call that would one, actually show up, and two, not judge me to no end for what happened."

They all stared at her, silent and mouths open, until Carly got up and walked to the cooler. " Honestly, " she said. "It sounds like you could use a drink."

"Or maybe ten," Scout added, her eyes wide as she looked at me.

Carly handed her a drink, and for the first time since picking her up, she relaxed, letting me relax right along with her.

In the mess of my doubts, I couldn't shake the feeling that bringing her tonight wasn't the smartest move. But deep down, I knew it was the one I wanted.